


One Last Time

by winterflame4



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Accidental Death, Dragon Age: Inquisition Spoilers, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, One Shot, Post-Dragon Age: Inquisition - Trespasser DLC, Sad Ending, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:27:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27481963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterflame4/pseuds/winterflame4
Summary: Inquisitor Trevelyan attempts one final conversation with her absent friend about the Fade.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	One Last Time

**Author's Note:**

> Set after the final events of Dragon Age: Inquisition, sometime within the two years preceding Trespasser. As such, there are some spoilers for the game in general, but there's a name drop at the end that may be spoilery for anyone who hasn't gotten to Trespasser DLC content. Also, the character death isn't heavily detailed and is more fade-to-black. If it's still bothersome to readers, I can edit it accordingly.

Her clothes didn’t match the place. Or rather, the choice of time in this place didn’t line up with the leathers and cloth from future days. A dark stone room surrounded her, and she knelt in the center of it. The door was open, just as she had willed it to be, hoping beyond hope it would be an invitation. Hands folded in her lap, she scanned the halls beyond her spot on the floor for any sign of potential company. Once more than a few moments passed uninterrupted, she closed her eyes and took a calming breath.

“Solas?”

The name brought no return call, no elf at her side as in the beginning. The familiar room stayed lonely.

“I don’t know if you can hear me, or if you’re even paying attention, but I need to give this one last shot. I need to ask about the Fade…you know, again.”

No response. No presence other than her own. She opened her eyes.

“I know the Fade is subjective, and tends to be reflective of a single perspective,” she spoke to the empty room. “You taught me that emotions manifest in the Fade, but what about pain? Is every spirit doomed to relive painful ends or can there be peace if they just think good thoughts while dying?”

A couple more moments elapsed without collaboration. She sighs, having dreaded and expected this outcome. Perhaps a slight detour was in order?

“The truth of it all is that the lack of your presence at Skyhold pangs at me,” she murmured, just above a whisper. “I miss your advice, your magic, but above all, I miss your friendship. Whatever it may have been from your perspective, my end of it was genuine. I won’t be the last to admit this, either.

“It’s so much more, though. You know Corypheus has been dealt with. The rifts and Breach are gone, and the tumult is being resolved. One of my first and dearest friends will leave at the conclusion of our Inquisition to become the Divine, and that frightens me. This whole debacle began with the murder of a Divine, after all.

“Skyhold will be home to whomever needs it, but the people can rebuild their lives elsewhere, free of the conflict that prevented such healing. My…our friends will depart to their own affairs soon enough, and I’ll be forced to reconcile with my own. Truth be told, I lied when I said the Anchor didn’t change me. it changed everything, from the world I called home to the whirlwind of reputation changes I faced in such a short timespan. Add hefty burdens of leadership to the mix, and it’s nothing short of miraculous I’ve had the energy to smile up to this moment.

“But…back to the Fade and pain. I’m pressed for time, so if you don’t respond, maybe you’ll at least hear me.”

She swallowed hard, but allowed herself to relax. It wouldn’t be long, now.

“You know the section of Skyhold below, where we kept those awaiting my judgment? It was never fixed for structural integrity reasons. Solas, I may have taken too close a look over the unguarded edge. I’m here until I’m no longer myself, burning time in order to know what you know one last time.”

She wasn’t sure of the name for the noise that escaped her then. It was like the meeting of a weak laugh and a sob without tears.

“No one will find me in time, so I’m reliving Haven in the Fade, as you once helped me do. Maybe such proximity to death allows me entry here, but no matter. I cannot manifest you here, but I’ll imagine you as you described—at my side, examining the Anchor and making me feel some sort of safe. It’s fitting, really—the Mark was killing me, and now…”

She could feel herself losing her foothold here, so maybe the interruption of the Fade she felt was a cruel trick of sensation. Perhaps she had imagined him to her after all, but much like those moments in the dungeon at Haven, she could not reopen her eyes when they shut that final time. There was energy enough, it seemed, for silent tears to track her face. Surely, no one was touching her marked hand, but all the same, it made her feel safe. Poetic, she thought, that her story should end as it began, even if this was an illusion of her making.

And as Inquisitor Trevelyan’s broken body bled the last of its life, and her spirit converted purely into the Fade, a strange thing happened.

Every wolf across Thedas, near and far, let out a mournful howling.

And in the Fade?

The reverberation of an old god’s grief rattled the balance in a sudden, pained expression.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading this! It's the first time in a long time that I've posted any written work online, and I hope you liked it.


End file.
